Test Automation Tips: 1

#1 Don’t test links unless you are testing links.

Unless you are specifically testing menus or navigation links, don’t automate the clicking of links to navigate to the actual page under test. Instead take the shortest route to set the test up.

Let’s say I have a test that starts by clicking the product catalog link, then clicks on a product to get to product details, just so I can test that a coupon appears in product details. This test is testing too many concepts that are out of the scope of the intent of the test. I am trying to test the coupon visibility, not links. Instead, I should navigate directly to the product details page and make my assertion.

If you use the link method and fool yourself into believing that your test is acting like a user, when links are broken your test will fail for a reason other than the reason you are testing. If you use the same broken link in multiple tests, you will have multiple failures and will have to fix and rerun the tests to get feedback on the features you are really trying to test. If the broken tests are in a nightly test, you just lost a lot of test coverage and and you don’t know if the features are passing or failing because they never got tested. Using the link method can cause a dramatic loss of test coverage. So, test links in navigation tests only when the links are front and center in the purpose of the test. For all other tests, take the shortest route to the page under.

When I am writing and maintaining large functional UI tests I often realize somethings that would make my life easier. I decided to write this series of posts to describe some of the tips I have for myself in hopes that they prove to be helpful to someone else. What are some of your tips?